Ancient Queen, a Call from Stalin, Wild Dancing and Current Tensions

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What a day, I’ve learned so much about Georgia in the past plus current politics. I had to take notes!

Today was our first trip outside of Tbilisi and Glyn had booked it online before we’d arrived. The meeting point was outside a metro station and we were the first to arrive. I heard Glyn talking to a lady with a recognisable accent, as she was from Manchester and on the same tour as us. The rain began to pour and we sheltered until we were directed to a nearby office where a few tours were to meet.

Our guide was a very bubbly Georgian lady, 28 years old from Tbilisi, Catherine, who gathered us by shouting ‘Stalin is calling us’. We were a small group on a minibus, two blokes from Malaysia, a couple from Germany, two guys from the Netherlands, two blokes from the USA, two men from Greece, one lass from the Philippines, Tess from Manchester, the driver and us.

Catherine was asking us our reasons for visiting Georgia as it’s not a popular holiday destination. Reasons that were given included; wine, my friend brought me, it was recommended and it’s a safe place to travel, especially for lone females. We came because the flights were cheap and we knew next to nothing about the place, so decided to come and find out.

Georgia was originally called Sakartvelo, meaning ‘land settled by Kartli people’. It was a Greek translation that ended them up getting renamed Georgia.

I asked why so many dogs have plastic tags in their ears and it’s part of a government program to vaccinate and sterilise stray dogs because they can’t all be homed. I like this because in some countries they would be culled. I remember being very upset when returning to Athens after a few years to find a lot less stray cats and dogs because they’d been mass poisoned.

Georgia has four neighbours; Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. You could do day trips to Armenia and Azerbaijan but not currently to the latter, because there’s fighting between them both and the border is closed. Armenia might get closed too, we’ll just have to see. If you have stamps to one of them in your passport, you cannot enter the other. Catherine’s tour guide buddy had many stamps for both countries (because he does tours there), so last time he went to Azerbaijan, he got arrested and jailed for 9 days.

Catherine ‘reassured’ us that there’s ’no trouble here yet’, as yes, they are an unstable country but not expecting anything crazy today as ‘everything is around us’. Russia is busy with Ukraine, plus has soldiers within the Azerbaijan/Armenia conflict. Turkey is also involved, so Georgia is stuck in the middle with tailbacks of lorries because they can’t use any other route. Tess had seen the tailbacks and claimed it went on for many miles and she’d not seen anything like it. “Like Dover then,“ I asked and the Germans laughed. Except the Georgians did not choose this.

The Georgians are not currently preparing for war, their bombshelters are filled with wine and pickles, there’s no room to sleep in them. So if they’re not worried, I’m all good.

Catherine remembers the war when Russia invaded for 11 days during 2008, her family were driving to a cousin’s wedding and noticed a lot of military on the road. Family started texting to check if everyone was ok. The wedding still happened but it was shortened and rather somber, with the best man unable to attend due to being called to war. The groom managed to avoid war for the day due to having a general for an uncle.

We drove past refugee camps full of Georgians. Catherine said that the government was housing its own people who’d lost their homes during the 1992/1993 and 2008 Russian invasions. She acknowledged that it’s odd having refugees from your own country, but pointed out that there’s no neighbouring country to run to.

The Georgian people have been offering their homes to Ukrainian refugees, those who have summer homes have given them up to help. This is not through the government, just a people action. Refugees generally don’t go to Georgia as the wages are low.

Georgia was the only country allowed to speak their own language during the time of the Soviet Union, mainly because some poet stuck his neck out. I think he ended up being killed, but has a statue. Although free of Russia now, they are very close and tourists have been known to get ‘welcome to Russia’ text messages from their service providers when driving through.

We were told about Georgian food including a sweet treat called Churchkhela that is candle shaped, made from nuts and grape juice. It is high in calories and therefore soldiers snack on it during wars to keep going. The Georgians sent some to the Ukraine not only as aid, but because it was symbolic.

Our first stop was an ancient cave city, Uplistsikhe which dates back from the iron age, near Gori. I think the name means Lord’s Castle or Castle of a God. A lot of it has collapsed over the centuries as weather and life happens. But there’s still quite a few caves left and Catherine guided us around with ancient stories and facts. It was sunny, but incredibly windy. Even Glyn’s farts were lost.

We saw remnants of wine making, drainage, prisons and various rooms for old rituals. Notable was Queen Tamar’s hall where important meetings were held, they had an adjacent wine cellar because wine is important. Queen Tamar, also known as Tamar the Great, ruled Georgia from 1184 to 1213, leading to the summit of the Georgian Golden Age. She was the first woman to govern Georgia in her own right and was a very popular monarch as she’s associated with good times. When she was buried, I think there were about 9 fake graves dug, to prevent grave robbers from other countries. The subjects who buried her killed each other so no one was left alive who knew the secret and they felt honoured to do this. I thought it mad, but Glyn pointed out that there’s plenty in the UK who would do the same now and it’s very true. People don’t change. Queen Tamar’s grave to this day has not been found, it may not be in Georgia as boundaries have changed since then.

Catherine took us to the summit of the cave complex and the wind was insane. Luckily it was blowing inwards, otherwise we would have all plummeted a long way down. It was one of the strongest winds I have encountered and we were clinging onto a handy metal post that was sunk into the rock.

For an extra quid, there was wine tasting and I partook. Georgia is known as the birthplace of wine, proven because 8000 year old grape seeds have been found there. The wine was good and some very old. We also tried Chacha which is a spirit made out of grape residue after the wine has been made. It was around 45% alcohol which Catherine claimed was weak, as Georgians prefer 50-70%. The saying goes: 1 Cha, 2 Cha, 3 CHA CHA CHA!!! I think that means you’re pissed by the 3rd. I liked it but a bottle was rather expensive so I bought some wine that was also pricey, but not as much.

Walnuts are one of the main crops in Georgia and are also grown beside roads as they suck up pollution. Tess loves walnuts and got Catherine to show her where windfalls were to collect. I also grabbed a few but have yet to try them.

The next stop was Gori, the birthplace of Stalin, for lunch. The restaurant was called Josef and even some local salads are named Josef. There was lots of local food, more than we could eat with plenty of vegetarian options and a few vegan. We were also entertained by 5 young lads (around 17 years old) performing traditional Georgian dancing. Bloody hell they were energetic with many high kicks, prancing and jumping. It’s no wonder they were all very skinny despite Georgian food being loaded with carbs.

Next stop was the Stalin museum. Now Catherine reiterated many times that this was optional. She’s had complaints from tourists about it, despite it being on the itinerary. We all opted in, learning about the man doesn’t make you like him, no matter how softly he maybe portrayed.

One of the Americans asked Georgians feel about him, and why some still seem to support him despite the atrocities. Catherine said it was often a generational thing (I remember hearing similar in Bulgaria). People aged 50 and above remember living within the Soviet era, when they had a far better quality of life. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia blocked trade and utilities into Georgia and life became very poor. Catherine remembers taking wood to school each day to help heat it. She only recalls the bad times slowly getting better and this is why her generation feel very different about Stalin and Russia. This is also because history is taught very differently to her than it was to her parents.

So some older people see Stalin as a valuable part of history and a hero. In the museum, which is built next to the house where he was born, you can buy souvenirs such as jigsaws, t-shirts, pens, backgammon / chessboards and keyrings. His house is covered to keep it falling into decay, it’s not very big as he was born to a poor family his parents being a shoemaker and a dressmaker.

We had a museum guide take us around and she was a bit stern looking with a pointy stick. There loads of portraits, paintings and tapestries of the guy, somebody loved him, even if it was himself. She talked about how he was a revolutionary and got arrested for this, she didn’t mention that his revolutionary activities included robbery and kidnap. She told us about his rise to power and his mate, Lenin. She briefly mentioned that maybe 4 million people went into camps, many dying of hunger, cold and disease (not murdered of course) but no one knows that actual number. Now as Stalin was the leader, she conceded that it was his responsibility - and that was about the most condemnation he got. I also learned that he was a good singer but never learned how to play a musical instrument, this was mentioned twice. We also were told about his descendants including a granddaughter who was married 5 times, each to a person of a different nationality.

Outside was Stalin’s train carriage in which he travelled with a few of his aides throughout Russia. It wasn’t particularly fancy, but neither was it basic.

Gori makes a big thing of it being Stalin’s birthplace, but Stalin tried to keep it quiet because he didn’t like Russians knowing he wasn’t proper Russian. He also gave away Georgian land, so why anyone here likes him would be a mystery to me if I didn’t live in the UK where many worship Boris Johnson despite him being a despicable embarrassment that’s increased poverty in the UK.

So there’s currently a lot of tension in Georgia with the Russians, I’d already guessed this having seen a lot of anti Russian graffiti in Tbilisi. Georgian tradition is that all guests are a gift from God, however guests who trash your country are problematic. They hang onto their tradition through gritted teeth. Some Russians do like winding up the Georgians and they don’t need a visa to stay here (the Georgians need them to go to Russia). Russians have been coming to Georgia to avoid being sent to war, they work remotely so are able to support themselves. But some are staying in Georgian homes and refusing to pay rent, so not only squatting in the country, but in people’s homes and this isn’t going down too well.

The hospitable Georgians are a bit more passive aggressive in that they change the WiFi passwords to things such as ‘Georgiais20%occupiedbyRussia’, and the Russians kick back by leaving nasty online reviews with comments such as ‘You think 2008 was bad, just you wait and things will be worse’. So recently in Batumi, the second largest city in Georgia, on the Black Sea, a bunch of Russians were pulled out of a truck and beaten up. Things are tense. However, as a tourist, I was oblivious until now and Batumi is pretty far away, we have no plans to go there.

The next stop was a far bigger step back in time as we visited Jvari Monastery (Monastery of the Cross) near Mtskheta. It’s an early medieval church at the top of a very windy hill. Christian buildings are built high in Georgia to show that they’re more important than other religions. During the 4th century, St Nino, a female evangelist converted the King to Christianity with miracles using a cross made from a grape vine. It was pretty standard as churches go, but the views across the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers to Mtskheta and landscape were pretty good.

Finally we went to Mtskheta which was the original capital of Georgia until the 6th century when Tbilisi took over. It’s a lot smaller and far less crowded than the new capital. It is also known as the second Jerusalem.

Walking through the town, we arrived at Svetitskhoveli Cathedral that is famous because part of Jesus’ shroud (or robe) is meant to be buried underneath it. A wedding was taking place and the couple seemed unconcerned by various tourists taking photos. Catherine said it was either a Russian or Ukrainian wedding as they were holding icons which is not a Georgian tradition. They keep their icons at home due to in the past not being allowed to worship anywhere else.

Also of note was an old Christian fresco surrounded by zodiac symbols which is very rare. I never knew before that in the famous DaVinci painting of the Last Supper that the apostles are sitting in order of their zodiac signs. Oooh, did Dan Brown write about this?

The day ended with a walk through the town and buying a few souvenirs. The drive back to Tbilisi was short, but the traffic was heavy at the end due to roadworks.

I had a really good day and learned so much, I could write more but it’s getting late and i have to be up early tomorrow!

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Comments

[Michael Farmer]

Wow
That is the best travelblog you have written. I do look forward to them popping up each evening. Not that I want to go traveling, Trentham is a long way from Cheadle for me.

[RedPlanetClaire]

Thank you
Thanks Mike, I’m so glad you’re enjoying them :-)